Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Disclaimer: The following contains minor spoilers
Arriving one week before the official Valentine’s Day weekend 2025, the romantic slasher horror-comedy Heart Eyes may finally be the successful creation of a Valentine’s themed slasher horror franchise. I always felt that this was meant to be the original idea behind the My Bloody Valentine (1981) slasher film. Look at it this way: we’ve been spoiled for choices in terms of holiday-themed slashers. For instance, for Christmas we’ve got the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series (1984-2012), for Halloween, well, the Halloween franchise (1978-2022)and Friday the 13th (1980-2009). Heck, we’ve got Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving (2023) slasher, which has spawned an upcoming sequel that is set to be released Thanksgiving 2025.
So, the burning question here is simple: do I think that Heart Eyes has what it takes to spawn its own franchise? Resoundingly, yes! The film is directed by Josh Ruben (Scare Me and Werewolves Within) and written by Phillip Murphy (Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day and Freaky) and Michael Kennedy (Freaky and It’s A Wonderful Knife). Landon also serves as a co-producer.
The plot revolves around a serial killer named the Heart Eyes Killer, abbreviated H.E.K. because, why not? Although, I think that this may be a nod to true crime junkies because it made me instantly think of the B.T.K. serial killer. I don’t know if anyone else caught that or if it’s just my warped mind. Anyway, the Heart Eyes killer has been murdering couples on Valentine’s Day for the past few years in multiple cities. This year he has resurfaced in Seattle for Valentine’s Day and begins his annual killing spree as expected.
Without disclosing too much of the nitty-gritty plot details, what I will say is that the leads Ally (Olivia Holt of Cloak & Dagger) and Jay (Mason Gooding of Scream <2022> and Scream VI) go from a chance encounter at a coffee shop to co-workers to being misunderstood for a couple that are soon running for their very lives from a vicious serial killer. Heart Eyes is what I would call a successful and unique blend consisting of all the trappings of a Hallmark movie with a generous helping of slasher horror insanity, that was clearly inspired by the whodunit mysteries of the Scream franchise.
It’s absolutely dripping with fun and familiar tropes and clichés of these popular film genres that make it enjoyingly predictable and entertaining at the same time. The look and design of the Heart Eyes killer’s costume are your textbook slasher killer style, with one exception, of course — the stitched tan-leather face mask with heart-shaped eyes that light up. I also liked the fact that one of the killer’s signature weapons was a bow and arrow, like some twisted version of Cupid.
For the most part, any movie project like this that has Christopher Landon’s name attached to it as either a writer, director or producer is something you need to pay attention to. While not all of his film projects have met with success, Landon clearly is not afraid to push the limits when it comes to intertwining different movie genres.
Some of the most iconic slashers concludes with a question mark of a cliffhanger that will leave an opening for any future films to be made, provided their current film has been well received by audiences. This film adheres to this strategy by cleverly combining what we know to be the expected endings of both a rom-com and a horror. With Heart Eyes, you get the best of both worlds to incorporate it into your Valentine’s Day/weekend festivities. It’s a great couples film for those couples who are fans of horror, or it can also be an excellent opportunity to invite your single girlfriends for a movie night out.
Fun Fact: There’s a joke that’s meant to poke fun at the Fast and Furious franchise regarding Jordana Brewster and Devon Sawa characters’ names. It’s hilarious when you catch it!
Dark Alice’s Score: 6.5 out of 10
And you can check out more holiday-themed horror below:
Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More